A large number of diagnostic and interventional procedures involve the percutaneous introduction of instrumentation into a vein or artery. For example, coronary angioplasty, angiography, atherectomy, stenting of arteries, and many other procedures often involve accessing the vasculature through a catheter placed in the femoral artery or other blood vessel. Once the procedure is completed and the catheter or other instrumentation is removed, bleeding from the punctured artery must be controlled.
Traditionally, external pressure is applied to the skin entry site to stem bleeding from a puncture wound in a blood vessel. Pressure is continued until hemostasis has occurred at the puncture site. In some instances, pressure must be applied for up to an hour or more during which time the patient is uncomfortably immobilized. In addition, a risk of hematoma exists since bleeding from the vessel may continue beneath the skin until sufficient clotting effects hemostasis. Further, external pressure to close the vascular puncture site works best when the vessel is close to the skin surface but may be unsuitable for patients with substantial amounts of subcutaneous adipose tissue since the skin surface may be a considerable distance from the vascular puncture site.
There are several approaches to close the vascular puncture site including the use of non-absorbable tissue adhesives, absorbable material such as collagen, or anchor and plug systems. The use of either of the approaches above requires the ability to accurately locate the puncture site, position the hemostasis material at or near the puncture site, and release the hemostasis device. However, when releasing the hemostasis material at the puncture site and withdrawing other devices out of the tissue tract, the user typically must pull or tug on the devices which may reposition the hemostasis material or cause damage to the surrounding tissue or vascular puncture site.
Thus, there is still a need for an apparatus and method to efficiently and easily release the hemostasis device and remove any other devices from the puncture site without repositioning the hemostasis material or causing damage to the surrounding tissue or vascular puncture site.